Here in the 'Sylvania' woods we have lots of deer seasons. All slightly different.

The special 'old fart' deer season is in the middle of the muzzleloading season and the archery deer seasons, and is concurrent with the squirrel, grouse, rabbit season...dah.

So basically, if you are over 65 and have drawn a whitetail doe tag, you can hunt does with a CF rifle for 3 days.

Problem with being an OF is that all your hunting buddies are either dead or can't walk any longer. So, since I refuse to give up, I've hunted the last 3 days straight.

Basically, I load my 260 Kimber ultra lightweight, walk 200 yards into beautiful oak forest on state land. When I get in 200 yards I open the bolt as a reminder NOT to shoot any thing..can't drag them out!

So for 3 days I've taken my rifle for a walk (2-6.5 miles a day). I scout new places/stand locations (i'll never hunt), and take my backpacking stove and cook an early 3 pm meal. The last 3 days have been high 30s at 6am, and 72 at 2 pm....beautiful, with the mixed hardwoods in perfect fall foliage. Visited the location of 20-30 deer kills in my earlier life. Saw the spot where my son killed his first deer, and 300 yards away where I shot my first whitetail. 2 miles away I drank a toast (from my water bottle) at the favorite places my 2 buddies to like to hunt when they where alive. A little sad, but lots of good memories in that 6 mile square.

Never saw any one in the woods. Saw grouse, squirrels, and 3 does...all are still there and I don't even have to clean the rifle.

I do enjoy making a good shot and seeing the deer drop right there, but I have killed so many deer that shooting one really doesn't matter. It is really just getting out in the woods, especially on beautiful days.

OF season is over, and it is raining right now. Wife is gone driving to Buffalo, after house chores and cleaning 3 rifles, about noon I'm going to go squirrel hunting for a few hours.

Squirrel and rabbit hunting are still fun, that's the one thing Montana is lacking in, a decent eating squirrel. Some of the towns have grey squirrels, I guess they started as stowaways or were imported some other way.

A good mess of small game, is easier to pack outta woods, than deer. Grouse have been pretty scarce around here, between the extra snow, spring rains, and dry summer, they either had a poor year or aren't in normal spots. Hunting them with cap & ball, makes it even more fun.

We have fair numbers of snowshoe hares and brush bunnies, cottontails are fairly scarce, away from the creek willows, on this side of the hill.

Wing good thought, it would be best if a relative. Unfortunately today, there are too many wacko kids and parents.

UNFORTUNATELY, Today It is never good to be alone with any child, not your own. Too many charges and suits over "made up stuff". sad society. especially here in the liberal east!

Agreed Bear, it is a sad state of affairs that our country has fallen to this low level where one cannot feel comfortable in offering any kind of "passing on skills" with a youth without fear of being accused of any kind of charge of wrongdoing with that assistance. Sure puts a crimp on any kind of mentoring to young folks.

I consider myself fortunate in that even though my youngest son is a raging teenager, with all of the angst that one would expect, we manage to still have hunting in common. The opener was this past weekend and it was too windy, but looking forward to this coming weekend. We thankfully have several weeks to do our hunting, and I am grateful to Montana for that.

As I get older, I'd really just rather see that he (and his brothers, when they are along) get their tags filled first, before I worry about my own. It is good to know that they will all know how to feed themselves and their families.

My dad will also be getting a tag this year (at least one), but I think his focus is more on the deer that keep invading the garden and crabapples out at my parents' place. His transition into Old Fartdom is going pretty smoothly, and I suspect that when my time comes, It will be a smooth transition, as well.

I really does make one shy away from involvement with youth groups, even Boy scouting has problems/risks. 25 years ago when involved in scouting, the rule was NEVER be alone with a kid...ALWAYS two adults at all time.

Even a fraudulent charge involving a minor will ruin your life (even though it is proven wrongful).

I was a Cub Master for a few years when my kids were young and involved but we had Den Mothers, who were actual real mothers, to work with the kids who were obviously boys. I was mostly a helper and resource for the Den Mothers. They held the meetings in their own homes. Never gave it a thought to be working with the kids. Also, taught Hunter Safety for 10+ yrs with 12yr olds, mixed boys and girls and never a concern. We used the public school building for our sessions with real firearms for the hands on portion of the training program. Try getting away with that in today's society. Today you are right in having more than one adult in any kid activity. Same with little league programs etc.

I never thought of that. I guess I live in a part of the country where all these "Big City" things haven't taken hold yet.

When I was about 13 or 14 we had a neighbor that was a diesel mechanic. He also was into hot rods. Whenever I saw his garage door open I would go in and watch him work on cars and pickups.

After a while I was asking questions and evidently he didn't mind because he didn't run me off. Pretty soon he would let me do small stuff with him looking over my shoulder. I'll never forget the time he let me put the distributer in a small block Chevrolet and run all of the spark plug wires. He didn't say a word each time I asked if I was doing it right, he just said we'll see if it starts. It started and ran pretty good.

He worked for Halliburton Services, An oil field service company. When I got out of high school he helped me get a job as a mechanic working with him. He taught me quite a few things about Diesel mechanics, but the thing he taught me that was more valuable than anything was "Don't be afraid to take anything apart to see how it works. That's how to figure out what it takes to fix it".

I just saw him a couple of days ago. He came into my work. He's in his mid 80's now and we're still pretty good friends.

I would never have thought of making any kind of false accusations about a guy that took the time to help some pain in the ass kid that wanted to learn something.

I guess times have changed. I hope those times don't get here any time soon.

Wing master

I have always considered myself to be quite the bullshitter, But ocasionally it is nice to sit back and listen to a true professional......So, Carry on.

My dad died when I was 10; no uncles of grandfather. Luckily a WW-2 vet got me shepherded into shooting. Then I hung out with about 12 vets who taught me to shoot and hunt. All are deceased now. But they were good guy, would pick me up in thee car every Tuesday night to shoot until 10 pm. NEVER happen today. sad, when I think of the things I could teach a kid.

IBD...even the way you wrote is a no-no today. "... for the hands on portion" .....can you imagine how the media could twist that and that you have an arsenal in your home.

Bear, u wrote "IBD...even the way you wrote is a no-no today. "... for the hands on portion" .....can you imagine how the media could twist that and that you have an arsenal in your home."

I'm pretty sure you & our good friends on this site understood that the "hands on" part of the program was for the kids to learn how to safely handle firearms by a "hands on" approach....not hands on the kids! However, I can understand where you are coming from....there are some out there who certainly would take the dim view of those words. Maybe even lurkers on this site!

I was recalling HISTORY of what was back when I/we were young....didn't mean to imply it would work fine today. Sad that it might not.

Fortunately for young folks there are still those who volunteer to coach all kinds of sports activities like baseball, basketball, football, hockey etc plus hunter safety folks too for the young of today who have the interest. Bless those volunteer coaches.

I believe the NRA offers special insurance to NRA members who are NRA certified to teach the many firearm related programs they offer. That of course may be for liability if someone gets hurt with or because of a firearm in the program vs child molestation or abuse.

I understood your post and the way you used the words. Just pointing out how cautious today's society is.

Sex molesters take advantage of locations that get them close with kids; baby sitter, teachers, youth volunteers, coaches, training assistants.

Think of the Penn State molestation...hundreds of kids, 20+ years, and all covered up by college educators. If I was the sentencing judge on Jerry sandusky trial, there would have been no need to store him in prison.

You might not know it, but recently his son Jeff Sandusky, ( a 41 year old prison guard) pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and 12 felonies (child abuse) in a deal with prosecutors, under which he might serve three to six years in prison. Like father, like son.

I don't know if sex assault is new to our society; or has been here forever and is now just televised???

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